Solution to the Selenium with Firefox 22 Issues and How to Report Issues

Firefox v22 changed things and many commands for Selenium core did not work any more. If you use Selenium IDE, the latest release v2.2.0, fixes all known issues caused by Firefox 22. Since the automatic update is currently not working due to an expired certificate, you should download the new version as soon as you can. You can leave a comment on the thread so it can be fixed asap.

If you are using Selenium RC / Selenium Server and get issues with Firefox 22, don’t panic. The known issues caused by Firefox 22 have been fixed as well. The Selenium Server v2.33.0 does not contain the fixes. While it is recommended that you wait for a official release, you can test a snapshot build here or build it from the source. Update: The new version of Selenium Server has been released and can be downloaded from here.

Most of you already know this, but since Selenium gets new users everyday, here are some tips for them. The right place to report issues in Selenium is the issues page on googlecode and not my blog. Feel free to leave a comment to give your feedback or opinions on any of my posts if it is related. I also appreciate your thanks. Issues about my Selenium IDE plugins should definitely be reported on the plugins page on my blog. But report issues in Selenium IDE, Selenium RC, Selenium Server, Selenium Grid or Webdriver on the official issues page.

Before you report an issue, it is good to realise that tens of millions of people use Selenium. So it is likely that someone else has already faced the same issue that you are facing. Search for existing issues first. Not just the open issues, but all issues. It is the dropdown just before the search field on the issues page. While there are just 71 committers, issues often get fixed very quickly, especially critical ones. Don’t just raise a new issue as it simply increases the work the committers have to do, taking time away from actually fixing an issue.

Always make sure that you have tried the latest version. It is a good thing to do even before you start searching for existing issues. Check the downloads pages, viz., seleniumhq.org for Selenium IDE, googlecode for the rest, to see if there is a new version. If there is, try to test with the new version. Also, read the release notes / change log too, here is the release notes page for Selenium IDE. It sometimes contains workarounds or reasons why you will face an issue, usually when a breaking change is released. Check the users group for possible solutions from other users too.

If an issue is marked fixed, it means that a fix was added to the code base. It may not have been released to the public yet. You can always download the source code and build it yourself. Sometimes, you can grab a latest snapshot (developer) build from the continuous build servers. You can also post on the developers group or drop by on the IRC channel #selenium at Freenode (irc.freenode.net) and ask when the expected release date is.

If you are reporting an issue, remember to provide as much information as possible. The version numbers, the component of Selenium you are using, the operating system, the error message, screen shot, reduced test case and whatever else you can provide. It greatly helps when a developer is trying to reproduce your problem and try to fix it. If you find another issue, try to add any information that may be helpful.

These are just my thoughts on how to get your issue fixes as soon as possible and not meant to be condescending. Selenium has a awesome community and developers who put in a great deal effort to support you. Often the only thing they get back is a few words of thanks from you. If you can help out by doing something better or fixing a bug or adding a feature or documentation, a patch is always welcome.

Lastly, I have lost a several hundreds of comments from my blog. I have approved all remanining ones, so if your comment is not being seen, it is lost and you will need to post it again.